Police give madrassas forms seeking detailed information

By Mohammad Imran

ISLAMABAD: On the Interior Ministry’s directive, the Islamabad Capital Territory Police on Sunday distributed two forms in mosques and seminaries in Islamabad for information about foreign students studying there.

Qari Hanif Jalandhry, coordination secretary of the Ittehad-e-Tanzimat-e-Madaris-e-Dinya (ITMD), a representative organisation, told Daily Times that ITMD had directed all religious seminaries not to provide information to the government and not fill the forms, which have 10 columns each.

Sikanader Hayat, Senior Superintendent of Islamabad Police wrote to all police station house officers (SHOs) and sub-divisional police officers (SDPOs) to distribute and have the forms filled out in detail and sent to him by Tuesday.

The government has divided the religious schools into categories A and B.

The information sought includes name and location of the religious school or mosque, the occupied land including the total area of the seminary or mosque, what was the was the actual land when it was allotted and how much land was illegally possessed by the religious schools or mosque.

The other information which was asked by the government was how many foreign students were studying in the religious school, male or female, their names and the names of their countries. The forms also ask for the number of Pakistani students studying there and their native districts, the number of teachers and their names and the detail of their native districts. The forms also ask for the names of the patrons who have administrative control of the religious schools or mosques, as well as about the registration certificate of the religious schools and mosques and the date they were established.

Qari Hanif said that distribution of the forms amongst the religious schools was against an ITMD agreement with President General Pervez Musharraf in September and December last year in which it was decided that the government would not directly seek any information from any madrassa but through the ITMD.

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